NEED HELP - Large Scale LED Panel For Photo/Video

AwkwardSeating

AwkwardSeating

Member
I'm on a journey. One that was started last month when a drunken engineer told me my dream of producing my own pivoting light table/fixture is attainable (disregarding my own lack of knowledge on basic principles of electricity)

None the less, I've caught the bug.

The goal is to create a 4'x8' bright, dimmable, quiet and evenly illuminated surface for studio photography and video production. Attached is a technical drawing for a prototype of the frame using parts that I can ship to my door. To attain even illumination behind diffused white plexiglass, I will need a tight array of LEDs and possibly two layers of diffusion. As this will be used in a professional environment, it's most important that it functions reliably and behaves when I need it to.

In the following weeks, I will attempt to ingest as much knowledge on LED boards, strips, drivers, heat sinks, potentiometers, aluminum channels, etc. as possible and I realize this forum is a gold mine. If anyone would like to offer guidance towards recommended builds or know of related threads that could be an extremely helpful starting point. Thank you in advance!
 

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nfhiggs

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
AwkwardSeating said:
I'm on a journey. One that was started last month when a drunken engineer told me my dream of producing my own pivoting light table/fixture is attainable (disregarding my own lack of knowledge on basic principles of electricity)

None the less, I've caught the bug.

The goal is to create a 4'x8' bright, dimmable, quiet and evenly illuminated surface for studio photography and video production. Attached is a technical drawing for a prototype of the frame using parts that I can ship to my door. To attain even illumination behind diffused white plexiglass, I will need a tight array of LEDs and possibly two layers of diffusion. As this will be used in a professional environment, it's most important that it functions reliably and behaves when I need it to.

In the following weeks, I will attempt to ingest as much knowledge on LED boards, strips, drivers, heat sinks, potentiometers, aluminum channels, etc. as possible and I realize this forum is a gold mine. If anyone would like to offer guidance towards recommended builds or know of related threads that could be an extremely helpful starting point. Thank you in advance!
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Samsung or Bridgelux 44" LED strips would be the "go to" choice. Fill your frame with as many as you like - the more you use the softer you can run them. The only drawback is their relatively low CRI of 80. If this is for photography and video production, you would want the most accurate color rendering possible. You might look into high CRI LED strips like these. They are 99 bucks for 5 meters (16 feet). Maybe 4 strips per foot - that would be $800 just for the strips. They have adhesive backing, so all you would need to do is stick them to a 4x8 sheet of aluminum. They also have the power supplies to drive them.
 
skoomd

skoomd

Well-Known Member
nfhiggs said:
Samsung or Bridgelux 44" LED strips would be the "go to" choice. Fill your frame with as many as you like - the more you use the softer you can run them. The only drawback is their relatively low CRI of 80. If this is for photography and video production, you would want the most accurate color rendering possible. You might look into high CRI LED strips like these. They are 99 bucks for 5 meters (16 feet). Maybe 4 strips per foot - that would be $800 just for the strips. They have adhesive backing, so all you would need to do is stick them to a 4x8 sheet of aluminum. They also have the power supplies to drive them.
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Yeah high CRI (95-100) is critical for lighting photography. Hence why LEDs arent used that often.
 
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PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
For a professional photography light panel have to move to leds which use a violet or a uva pump. They are available, but pricey and efficiency is relatively low compared to other leds.

checkout this for high cri leds
https://www.yujiintl.com/
 
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OneHitDone

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
skoomd said:
Yeah high CRI (95-100) is critical for lighting photography. Hence why LEDs arent used that often.
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Glad to see that you are starting to "see the light" on the deficiencies of led spectrums in the affordably attainable products currently available. ;)
 
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PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
CobKits said:
tons of 95-97 cri cob choices out there

ive got some customers in the stage lighting biz
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Kind of hard to make a diffuse light panel out of cobs. Perhaps some little itty bitty ones like the ones I sent you for testing would work if underdriven
 
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Slinging PAR

Well-Known Member
nfhiggs said:
Did you miss the fact that we are talking photography and video production here?
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It isn't like you know either. Recommending strips for this use is obviously wrong.

But you would know why if you knew lighting, photography, video-production or simple math.
 
dabby duck

dabby duck

Well-Known Member
PurpleBuz said:
Kind of hard to make a diffuse light panel out of cobs. Perhaps some little itty bitty ones like the ones I sent you for testing would work if underdriven
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Bxeb gen 2 strips come in the 97cri variety as well. Definitely lower efficiency however, 44" long 3k, is 40% or so at test current [120-125 lumens a watt] 1.8-1.9umol / joule. Still better than HID :)

@OP
I had his grand idea in the past of mounting strips to just a lexan box, mainly because alot of people reporting needing no heatsinks at certain drive currents, less than 1050ma in most cases.

But I would be tempted to mount each strip to 6061 t6 flatbar [.25" thick x 1-1.25" wide] and then mount to lexan or whatever. I wouldnt use channel to save weight and help with a shape that needs minimal cutting/configuring within your thin? sealed environment.
Sounds like fun!
 
nfhiggs

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
Slinging PAR said:
It isn't like you know either. Recommending strips for this use is obviously wrong.
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It isn't like you to read past the first sentence either apparently, otherwise you would have noted the link to the high CRI color corrected lighting strips specifically tailored for photography.
 
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Slinging PAR

Well-Known Member
nfhiggs said:
It isn't like you to read past the first sentence either apparently, otherwise you would have noted the link to the high CRI color corrected lighting strips specifically tailored for photography.
Click to expand...

Since you are fairly stunted intellectually, I will reiterate the important part:

...or simple math.
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
All I am saying is no matter how efficient your LEDs are. You need to put down a certain amount of photons per square feet, and depending on the size of your plants the field of depth for the light's Goldilocks zone even more light for the same area from further away.
 
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